And So It Begins: Stinking Panthers Want To Interview Dave Canales For Head Coaching Gig
January 8th, 2024
Wanted.
The best way to get back at division rivals is to pick them apart.
With the Bucs, the reigning three-time NFC South division champs, it’s not a surprise that a division rival may want to pluck away a key cog of the team.
Thus, the Stinking Panthers, per Ian Rapoport of NFL Network, says the Stinking Panthers have asked for permission to interview Bucs offensive coordinator Dave Canales for their open head coaching gig.
@RapSheet: #Bucs OC Dave Canales, one of the more intriguing candidates, has been requested by the #Panthers for their HC opening, source said.
Joe can see meddling Stinking Panthers owner David Tepper wanting to chat with Canales. Tepper comes from the corporate world. Is there a person in the NFL who presents a more positive, intelligent, confident and, yes, corporate image to front an organization than Canales?
Canales has done wonders with individual players like Mike Evans, Rachaad White and quarterbacks like Baker Mayfield and even Kyle Trask (Joe is still blown away what he did for Trask in a handful of weeks in the offseason, transforming him from a bubble player/USFL-like player to NFL backup status).
As for the offense as a whole? Well, aside from a two-game outlier, the Bucs offense under Canales needs a lot more work in order to get decent production.
At the end of the day, it’s about points. And the Bucs don’t score enough. Not if the Bucs plan to make a Super Bowl run.
But yeah, Canales’ work with players and his always sunny disposition is very much intriguing to NFL suits.
January 8th, 2024 at 9:34 pm
They won’t be the only one….
January 8th, 2024 at 9:35 pm
Happy for the guy… but if I was in Mr. Canales’ shoes… I would turn that offer down. That owner is a train wreck… has disaster written all over it.
January 8th, 2024 at 9:36 pm
I think Canales will turn down any offers. He isn’t ready. More importantly, he knows he isn’t ready.
January 8th, 2024 at 9:38 pm
Coaches will always interview for a promotion when it’s their first go around — even if it is just for the experience. Coaches like Munken can pick and choose.
January 8th, 2024 at 9:40 pm
They can raid whoever they want from the Bucs coaching staff. Canales has the offense going in reverse. Dude will probably run Rashad up the middle 20 times next Monday and start passing to Palmer when Bucs are down by 21.
January 8th, 2024 at 9:42 pm
Hey Dave- Todd would make a great defensive coordinator up there!
January 8th, 2024 at 9:44 pm
Should also point out that they have requested to interview Mike Greenberg . I hope that guy stays , he does wonders for us..go bucs ! Beat the hell out thoes iggles on Monday night !
January 8th, 2024 at 9:48 pm
I hope they hire him so we can beat the Panthers twice again next year!
January 8th, 2024 at 9:51 pm
Lol, Heck yeah! With his creative play calling and the way our offense has played for 15 out of 17 games, I would love for us to play against him twice a year!
January 8th, 2024 at 9:54 pm
Wow, really?
I wasn’t a fan of the hire, but I’ve been really impressed by him this year and seemingly have been way higher on him than most people. But even with that, it would be a huge leap. I assume they’re just bringing him in as a way to gather info on their opponents, maybe help distract the Bucs in the playoffs if they make it past the Eagles. If I was in their situation, and had a chance to screw up a division opponent in this situation, possibly cause a distraction, I’d do the same thing.
Anywho, watching tape, nearly all the complaints people have about the passing game have come down to the QB missing wide open guys or dumping off the ball and playing safe – which, in fairness to Baker, he’s been told the most important job of a QB isn’t to score points, but to not turn it over. But scheme wise, I’ve liked what he’s done for the most part. Although he’d occasionally make some bafflingly stupid decisions, like running the ball on a sweep deep in the backfield with 20 seconds left in the half and only one timeout. That was really really stupid. But compared to Leftwich, Canales is Einstein on the stupid scale.
January 8th, 2024 at 9:54 pm
I was just about write about this. Honestly it would be a smart move. He could definitely max out Bryce young. If he hired a competent D.C. and just worked on offense. I would hate to see him go especially if the Bucs bring back Mayfield. I 💬 if Bucs are going to keep Bowles Glazers will be giving Canales a big raise. I still think Belicheat is going to be out coach next season but we will see.
January 8th, 2024 at 9:55 pm
With his commitment to the run and our incredible ability to turn Hubbard into an All-Pro for 2 games a season, this could be bad news.
January 8th, 2024 at 10:01 pm
The offense has not played well in the past two games and poorly in 4 of the past six games. That’s a better average than the season but you get the picture. The credit goes to bowles that we have our record because the defense played well enough to cover up the offensive ineptness.
January 8th, 2024 at 10:05 pm
Works for me. Don’t care for Canales or his lame play calling.
January 8th, 2024 at 10:06 pm
Please hire him and take Blowles and Faker and all the Faker boys with them
January 8th, 2024 at 10:08 pm
Drunkinybor Says:
January 8th, 2024 at 9:54 pm
I was just about write about this. Honestly it would be a smart move. He could definitely max out Bryce young.
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Baker last year was, by far, the worst starting QB in football – and that was with DJ Moore and McCaffrey in Carolina.
I know everyone wants to pile on Young, and point and laugh at him, and say the Panthers blew their #1 overall pick — and while I really hope that is the case, I’m not so sure. The coaching and terrible talent around the kid means no one really has any idea what he’s going to be. Tua looked like complete trash in Miami until they got a coaching change and some better WRs, then suddenly he’s good. It wouldn’t shock me if he has a big turnaround with some better coaching, and most importantly, some better talent.
January 8th, 2024 at 10:11 pm
Since76 Says:
January 8th, 2024 at 10:01 pm
The offense has not played well in the past two games and poorly in 4 of the past six games.
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You’re confusing ‘the offense’ with Baker Mayfield, who has been terrible in the last two games. If Baker, yesterday, hits Mike on some of those wide open throws, it’s a blowout.
That’s not on the coaching, that’s on the guy behind center.
Canales had a handful of dumb calls, but man, watch the tape, guys are open all over the place, and Baker is missing them or making bad reads, he’s been extremely bad these last two weeks.
I hope for the sake of the team that good Baker shows up vs the Eagles, otherwise its going to be very ugly.
January 8th, 2024 at 10:11 pm
Bye Felicia, he’s no where near ready to be the head coach not even college level
January 8th, 2024 at 10:12 pm
@Joe Have you ever considered having a message board on here. I think it would blow up. The old Tampa Bay times board was very popular until they got rid of it. The Pewter Report Was huge but it’s horrible now. We don’t have a good message board to discuss anything. As far as I know.
January 8th, 2024 at 10:19 pm
They can have Canales and Bowles but hell no to our money guy Mike Greenberg
January 8th, 2024 at 10:25 pm
I think canales is playing the type of football Todd Bowles wants. Turn him loose and he might be pretty good.
January 8th, 2024 at 10:26 pm
They think he might be the next shawn mcvay cause of the young look’s and crappy haircut and possibly cause baker had his best season as a pro under him and geno last year maybe they think he can do the same too bryce young 🤔
January 8th, 2024 at 10:26 pm
Dave counts as a minority interview. THEN, the man can hire Bellichick (did you notice Panther’s GM was fired today?)
January 8th, 2024 at 10:27 pm
Why wouldn’t they ‘talk” to him? If nothing else it gives the Bucs something to think about. Why not mess in an opponents locker room?
January 8th, 2024 at 10:27 pm
Zero run game and unable to use two pro bowl receivers properly.
How would we survive without him?
January 8th, 2024 at 10:31 pm
stpetebucfan Says:
January 8th, 2024 at 10:27 pm
Why wouldn’t they ‘talk” to him? If nothing else it gives the Bucs something to think about. Why not mess in an opponents locker room?
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Yeah, that’s what I was saying. If I’m the Panthers, why not just screw with the Bucs, get some info while hopefully causing a distraction. This is the team with an owner who throws hot coffee on opposing fans – so there’s no way this isn’t their mindset here.
Personally I wish the Bucs did this sort of stuff. This is the entertainment business, and pleasing your audience should be the #1 thing.
January 8th, 2024 at 10:36 pm
Canales is an articulate well spoken well meaning person but I totally question his playcalling, stubborness & not running the same successful plays two times or more in the same game. Have you seen Canales run the same successful play more thn once in a game He persists in running the ball up the middle for no gain, doesn’t have an attack offense, runs unsuccessful trick plays the first time the Bucs are inside the opponents 50 yard line and seem to run plays with no sense of urgency. Why would you want to make him your Head Coach at this point?
January 8th, 2024 at 10:37 pm
Canales is too green. Panthers owner is too much of an ass. Panthers need a lot of retooling and 2-3 years of rebuild under one guiding hand that can develop Young. Minimum they need 2-3 Oline, 1 WR if not 2 and 1 TE if not 2 that can catch. Canales would be canned in 1-2 years by Tepper long before they could improve to be playoff bound.
Bucs would be smart to have Canales stay. Have him take over for Bowles in 1-2 years (when Bowles leaves or is fired).
January 8th, 2024 at 10:53 pm
We will find out after the season is over that Mayfield has cracked ribs. Do you think he just forgot how to throw in the last game and was 10 feet off on his deep throws? I wish you could block people on this site. Rob Munch is stealing brain cells from me every day. In 60 years of watching football, I’ve never seen such a smooth-writing person who is completely wrong about everything. I think he might be an AI Bot put on this site to stir controversy. Is that you Bard?
January 8th, 2024 at 10:58 pm
Oz Len – Smooth talking? Compliments will get you everywhere. tee hee.
January 8th, 2024 at 10:59 pm
Good for Canales….
getting interviews like that helps them get experience and grow confidence for when they earn credible interviews in the future…
to bad something can’t be worked out to where Bowels is no longer with the Bucs!
January 8th, 2024 at 11:01 pm
Here’s my theory:
The Panthers know the Glazers have a history of firing head coaches in order to promote and keep coordinators, and all it has taken in the past is the appearance of interest by other teams.
They also know that those decisions have never worked out for the Bucs.
So by requesting the interview, they hope to manipulate the Glazers into making the mistake again.
But…the Bucs have a right to refuse, don’t they? So if they refuse, it’s a sure sign we won’t see a head coaching change.
January 8th, 2024 at 11:02 pm
Rod Munch in my opinion is an idiot
January 8th, 2024 at 11:02 pm
“I think that Animal House is one of the 5 greatest movies ever made”
Political Analyst James Carville
The Bucs are a crew of misfits that are some of the most disgusting, wild, and hilarious bands of comedic protagonists that have ever been put on screen.
January 8th, 2024 at 11:03 pm
I personally do not think Canales is ready, and I would rather see him go that repeat the mistakes of the past.
I do feel Canales might make a good head coach in a bout 4-5 years, but let him grow elsewhere, because no way does Bowles last 5 years here.
January 8th, 2024 at 11:06 pm
Bte, I think you are all great, whether we agree or not!
January 8th, 2024 at 11:10 pm
Jason Anthony Sturgess Says:
January 8th, 2024 at 11:02 pm
Rod Munch in my opinion is an idiot
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In the wake of your utterance, wherein you elected to bestow upon me the moniker ‘idiot,’ my curiosity has been piqued in no small measure. I find myself most intrigued by the intellectual journey that led you to such a particular choice of descriptor. Pray, could you indulge me by expounding upon this matter in a manner most detailed and articulate? A comprehensive elucidation, delivered in the Queen’s English, would greatly satisfy my quest for understanding the profundity of your assessment.
January 8th, 2024 at 11:17 pm
Where’s Tony and Wyoming?
Probably cleaning the goo off of their Baker Mayfield fatheads.
Although I think Tony has his on his bedroom ceiling so it stays pretty clean
January 8th, 2024 at 11:19 pm
Maybe Glazers will surprise everyone and hire Jim Harbaugh?
January 8th, 2024 at 11:22 pm
Trask Cult Leader Says:
January 8th, 2024 at 11:19 pm
Maybe Glazers will surprise everyone and hire Jim Harbaugh?
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Depends on the Eagles game.
While I assume Bowles returns, but if the Bucs get blown out, I have no doubt they’ll at least, behind the scenes, see if Harbaugh would want the job, and what it would cost to hire him.
But Bowles took what was supposed to be a bad team, and got a #7th ranked defense out of it and a playoff game, and a division title, even if it’s in the worst division in sports. If he’s back, I’d have no issue with that and would certainly say he earned that opportunity. But, if something better clearly comes along, you take it.
January 8th, 2024 at 11:45 pm
Cannot refuse an interview for a higher role is what I think the rule says.
January 8th, 2024 at 11:57 pm
Panthers can have him…Wink Martendale left NYG so he’s available and far better than Canales
January 9th, 2024 at 12:28 am
If I was Canales, I’d realize I need another two years of OC experience under my belt before seriously considering any HC offers. He needs to spend next year getting more consistent with both play calling and game planning.
January 9th, 2024 at 12:30 am
‘Wink Martendale far better than Canales’
Lets pretend for a moment that is true…
What decent and better OC wants to work for Bowels now knowing he is going to micro-manage your play calling and make you look bad so you do it ‘his way’….
Its more likely that DC leaves, NO good OC wants to works for Bowels…
Leftwich was successful until TB took over and DC has shown in several games he can light it up…. TB is the link to losing!
January 9th, 2024 at 1:02 am
Idroolpewter&red Says:
January 9th, 2024 at 12:28 am
If I was Canales, I’d realize I need another two years of OC experience under my belt before seriously considering any HC offers.
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If I was Canales, I’d gladly accept any head coaching offer and the probably $20-million guaranteed that comes with it. This is a guy that Seattle demoted before last season, and who was the 11th OC pick by Todd Bowles. I’m sure the guy is doing OK, but he’s not turning down HC money.
Not that he’d get the offer. The Panthers are just screwing with the Bucs, hoping to cause a distraction, and get some intel in the process.
January 9th, 2024 at 1:03 am
Tye Says:
January 9th, 2024 at 12:30 am
‘Wink Martendale far better than Canales’
Lets pretend for a moment that is true…
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No kidding. Who in the world watches the Giants offense and thinks, YES, that’s what I want!
January 9th, 2024 at 2:18 am
Tepper is just doing this to pass time until Belicheat gets fired
January 9th, 2024 at 3:31 am
@Rod Munch
Why would Carolina be trying to get intel on the Bucs at this point of the season? How is that going to benefit them now? Hell they did a really good job against us defensively without any “intel. “ I believe Tepper wants a young hc who can develop his biggest investment.
January 9th, 2024 at 3:33 am
If I were the Bucs, I would give the Panthers a 5th round pick and Trey Palmer just to take Canales off of our hands.
January 9th, 2024 at 3:34 am
If the Bucs want offense, then bury the hatchet to an extent and hire Jay Gruden to be the OC.
January 9th, 2024 at 3:39 am
If the Bucs want offense, then mend fences to an extent and hire Jay Gruden to be the OC.
January 9th, 2024 at 3:47 am
This may have been mentioned but I heard Canales qualifies as a Rooney rule interview. This might be Tepper going through the motions.
January 9th, 2024 at 3:59 am
IrishTony Says:
January 9th, 2024 at 3:31 am
@Rod Munch
Why would Carolina be trying to get intel on the Bucs at this point of the season? How is that going to benefit them now?
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Well they expect him to be back next year, plus teams always sniff around for info about other teams, look to see if they mention assassiants, players, that kind of stuff – people they might want to target. It’s just throwing out a net to get any info they can.
But the primary reason I think they’d do it, is just to hope it causes a distraction. Carolina is the type of team that does that stuff.
January 9th, 2024 at 4:01 am
Day1BucFan Says:
January 9th, 2024 at 3:47 am
This may have been mentioned but I heard Canales qualifies as a Rooney rule interview.
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Yeah, me too, I identify as an Naive-American Genderfluid Bilateral Pop-Tart, so I too can be interviewed to help meet a quota. Any NFL team that wants to get in touch, let me know, but I need to be compensated fairly for my time.
January 9th, 2024 at 4:33 am
Day1BucFan Says: “This may have been mentioned but I heard Canales qualifies as a Rooney rule interview. This might be Tepper going through the motions.”
I heard the same thing and you may be right.
Good luck to Canales. And if he gets the job, good luck with the owner. Tepper seems somewhat fickle and hot-tempered. Unsure if they have the same mindset either. Canales seems like a nice guy and isn’t ready for a HC position, especially for the Panthers.
January 9th, 2024 at 4:34 am
The timing of this smells to high heaven. Old school used to be you wait till a team has no more games to play before you make approaches or express interest. his is the same guy that threw drinks at opposing fan and now he puts in a request right after a loss to a division rival?
Its at least in part an annoyance request. Unless he foresees the bucs going deep inthe playoffs he coudl easily have waited a week or two.
January 9th, 2024 at 5:12 am
He’s getting interviews because he’s a minority candidate. He checks a box on a coaching search. You think Carolina wants to hire a guy who couldn’t score against their crappy team? Dave ain’t going anywhere.
January 9th, 2024 at 5:14 am
He also checks the box of a minority candidate.
January 9th, 2024 at 5:45 am
@Tony marks, Hodad, and Lakeland Steve –
Agreed. From the time I left for work and drove home later on, there was so much breaking NFL news that my head was spinning. Never seen this much about which coaches may interview early on. I was surprised by Canales and he probably is a Rooney Rule candidate. However, who would want to work for the Panthers owner? … He will be here another season.
January 9th, 2024 at 6:13 am
Would Canales really want to be HC #6 in a 5 year span? It would be huge risk as failure would put him on the Raheem path
January 9th, 2024 at 6:15 am
IrishTony … ‘Why would Carolina be trying to get intel on the Bucs at this point of the season? I believe Tepper wants a young hc who can develop his biggest investment.’
I agree with you. Bryce Young represents a huge investment for the Panthers, and thus far all they managed to do was to get him sacked 62 times this season (to his credit he only threw 10 INTs throughout that beatdown). They’ll almost surely be looking for an OC (slash HC if need be) who can develop their offense. Dave Canales is a fair candidate for the first part, but seriously doubt that he’s ready to be dual-hatted as the HC AND deal with Tepper at the same time.
January 9th, 2024 at 6:34 am
They want to interview the architect of the offense that just scored 9 points and threw for 130 yards against them 48 ago? I am reserving judgment on Canales until he no longer has Bowles pulling his strings, but it is a peculiar ask after our offensive team performance this year. If I am a Carolina fan, it is definitely the worst of times.
January 9th, 2024 at 7:14 am
Hey Dave. Be sure your interview prep gets top priority. And never mind preparing for the eagles. It’s just a playoff game.
January 9th, 2024 at 7:36 am
If you watched the All 22 , Baker had so many guys open underneath and chose to not take advantage.
January 9th, 2024 at 8:05 am
WillieG said it right up in these comments. Canales would do best for himself by learning more about the HC position before diving into the first HC offer he gets, especially from a team like the Panthers. Also it’s not like he turned our offense into a juggernaut or anything. If he leaves, he leaves.
January 9th, 2024 at 8:43 am
Canales and Mayfield will both be gone and the Joes and Ira will see nothing wrong à la Sgt. Schultz with having wasted an entire season hyping a career loser and not developing our second round quarterback.
January 9th, 2024 at 8:59 am
He’s way too green to be a head coach. If I was an owner and wanted an offensive head coach I would want someone with at least 2-3 years track record of running a top ten offense. The Bucs are not a top ten offense despite having 2 of the better receivers in the league.
Its such a shame that other OC’s can get the ball to their playmakers and Mike Evans doesn’t even get the targets nor the formations to spring him loose.
Mike is in his prime. If he isn’t featured in their playoff game and they can’t figure out a way to get him the ball downfield, that tells us that this offense doesn’t need superstars because the system they run doesn’t know how to adjust to coverages and adapt to defenses.
If I was Mike Evans and this team fails to get him the ball against the Eagles, I think I’d have my agent test the market and find out if the Chiefs, Texans or Chargers could use my services. I would want to play for a team who has a QB that can get me the ball when I’m open. No one can cover him but neither Mayfield nor Brady would throw him jump balls or back shoulder throws.
January 9th, 2024 at 9:47 am
Tepper would be a career killer for him.
January 9th, 2024 at 9:59 am
Paratrooper Buc Says:
January 8th, 2024 at 10:37 pm
Canales is too green. Panthers owner is too much of an ass.
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My exact thoughts, too. I thought Culverhouse was the pits; you ought to hear Panther fans regarding this new owner yahoo.
January 9th, 2024 at 10:29 am
I will start my post by saying I am not an expert.
I will say that I think Canales has a lot of potential to be an excellent offensive coordinator. We have to remember this was his first season as a play caller and I think the first few games he clearly was a little bit in over his head. He started to improve as the season went on. Where I think he needs some improvement is on adapting quicker to what’s happening on the field. I have noticed often we adapt well after halftime if what was being tried wasn’t working in the first half.
I think those adjustments need to come a little bit faster. I also think that watching some games that the issue is more a Baker Mayfield issue. I saw one play last game where Baker clearly had an open guy in the middle of the field about 10 yards in front of him for an easy first down plus yards after the catch but instead he went for the deeper play on the guy who wasn’t really open. I don’t know if that’s because Baker just wants to go for the big play or his shorter stature made it harder to see over the line and see the guy come open in the middle of the field.
Well this is just one example I can think of many times where he had the easy checkdown to white in the flat and instead try to force the ball at and through an interceptable pass that was dropped. He has to learn that he hasn’t excellent receiving back out of the backfield and that there is no shame in taking the easy 5 to 10 yard checkdown when your guy is covered.
The other thing I thought Dave Canales needed to improve upon was something the Rams used a lot of which was a set with three receivers stacked on the same side I believe it is called a trips formation. Cooper Kupp used to have such an amazing time in that formation because he could break off at any point in any direction and the other two receivers were helping to clear out the zone where he would sit down in for an easy reception. Whenever we have used that formation we seem to have had success but we don’t use it enough.
Same thing with our run game which is that we seem to run better when we widen the zone and hit more edges or holes near our tackles rather than between garden center where our offensive line is not as stout.
In any case. This is all moot for this year because Bowles kept playing a hurt Baker when he should have had him on the bench last game and available to come in only if needed. Now he is more hurt and we have no chance even against a reeling
Eagles team when he can’t move or throw at his best.
January 9th, 2024 at 10:35 am
Canales ain’t going no where !! He is stuck here another year with Bowles . Check out our schedule next year fans…. Bowles will definitely be looking for a job after tightrope !
January 9th, 2024 at 10:42 am
He is a sharp guy. I havent been that impressed by the offense this year. I am not sure who is the one that ultimately makes the call to keep running White up the middle as opposed to getting the ball to our receivers more.. But i would rather have him as HC over bowles tbh. At least he has potential. Bowles has reached his ceiling
January 9th, 2024 at 11:25 am
I suspect he checks the box on the Rooney Rule.
January 9th, 2024 at 2:07 pm
NO WAY CAN WE LET DAVE CANALES SLIP AWAY !..HE’S A GRÈAT COACH & OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR, HE’S A BIG REASON WE ARE IN THE PLAYOFFS, RESURRECTING BAKER MAYFIELD’S CAREER !..IF BOWLES STUMBLES, HE SHOULD BE BUCCANEERS NEXT HEAD COACH ( NO QUESTION ABOUT IT ! ! ! )
January 9th, 2024 at 4:32 pm
johnnymoon Says:
January 9th, 2024 at 7:36 am
If you watched the All 22 , Baker had so many guys open underneath and chose to not take advantage.
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That’s a common occurrence, happens every single week. With a better QB, the Bucs finish higher than 20th in scoring.
January 9th, 2024 at 9:27 pm
Wouldn’t be a bad thing if he went to Carolina, wouldn’t make them contenders or that much better. Canales is still struggling as an OC so why would he succeed as a head coach. Hopefully he brings his best play calling Monday night and gets his job done on the offensive side of the ball.